One has already for a long time proposed multiple layer sleeves having various structures and intended to fit the cylinders of in particular offset printing machines.
In a general manner these sleeves consist of a plurality of associated concentric layers, namely essentially an outer printing or lithographic layer and one or several subjacent layers capable of providing the desired printing quality upon a substrate such for example as paper.
The known sleeves however exhibit a number of constraints in respect of their manufacture and of their use.
They should be custom-made in accordance with dimensions or sizes of the mandrels or cylinders of the machine onto which they have to be mounted. This requirement often needs the use of a specific manufacturing tooling and the manufacturing time is more or less long depending on the complexity of the structure of the multiple layer sleeve so that as a whole the manufacturing costs are relatively high.
Furthermore the known sleeves may not be adapted to the variable conditions of industrial utilization as well as to the variable diameters of the cylinders fitting the machines for printing, coating, or the like.
Therefore, the utilizer for fitting at the cylinders of his machine or for replacing the worn-out sleeves on these cylinders is compelled to proceed with the purchase of as many sleeves as there are cylinder diameters, which is not advantageous for him from the financial standpoint in particular.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to solve the problems referred to herein above by providing a sleeve which may be qualified as being universal in the sense that it is adaptable onto any cylinder diameter for a printing, coating or other machine.